Newsarama Interviews Grant Morrison

Zombipanda

My Boom-Boom's mostly gay
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The full interview is up on Newsarama, but here are a couple of my favorite quotes.

(on Frank Miller's upcoming book, Batman vs. Al Qaeda)

Grant Morrison said:
And while we're on that subject...Batman vs. Al Qaeda! It might as well be Bin Laden vs. King Kong! Or how about the sinister Al Qaeda mastermind up against a hungry Hannibal Lecter! For all the good it's likely to do. Cheering on a fictional character as he beats up fictionalized terrorists seems like a decadent indulgence when real terrorists are killing real people in the real world. I'd be so much more impressed if Frank Miller gave up all this graphic novel nonsense, joined the Army and, with a howl of undying hate, rushed headlong onto the front lines with the young soldiers who are actually risking life and limb 'vs' Al Qaeda.

(on the internal monologue pioneered by Frank Miller)

Grant Morrison said:
Well, I still intend to do 'Miller'-style first person narrative captions which give some insight into Batman's thought processes but it seems more 'realistic' to imagine Batman as a hardcore fightin' man who wouldn't even notice his injuries until long after the fight was over, so no more of that 'MY BACK SPLINTERS INTO A THOUSAND SHARDS OF AGONIZED BONE. HE'S GOOD. HE'S YOUNG. HE'S TOUGHER AND YOUNGER THAN ME. AND TOUGHER. DID I MENTION TOUGHER ? MUSN'T BLACK OUT...' In Batman #657 we see some of the pulp noir narration and non sequitur imagery that goes through Batman's mind during a fight and keeps him from being distracted by his aches and pains.

The whole article is gold, though. Morrison proves again and again that he really deserves to be in the top-tier of comic book writers. He's one of the best comic writers out there these days, and easily one of the few with the best, most long-reaching vision. Plus, he doesn't fawn over everything Frank Miller puts out.

The guy's an ace.
 
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Linky-McLink-Link-Link.

As many of you already know, Morrison is my favorite-est comic book writer. I can't wait to see how his Batman run will turn out.

My favorite moment of the interview:
NRAMA: Just so everyone's on the same page - that was the real Joker getting shot in the real face by a real gun by a guy who wasn't Batman in our reality, right?

GM: No, it was Xorn.
 
Grant Morrison must be the funnest person to interview. I bet everything he says has a double meaning.
 
Baxter said:
I'm not. Frank Miller on Batman just annoys me anymore.

Whats funny is I just got around to reading Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Dark Knight Strikes Again, all due to All-Star Batman and Robin and the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman.

It was good stuff (especially Year One and TDKR), but still over-rated by many.

Still, I liked it.

Speaking of which, does Loeb's "The Long Halloween" and its sequels tie into Miller's Batman continuity, or are they completely separate?
 
DIrishB said:
Whats funny is I just got around to reading Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Dark Knight Strikes Again, all due to All-Star Batman and Robin and the upcoming Holy Terror, Batman.

It was good stuff (especially Year One and TDKR), but still over-rated by many.

Still, I liked it.

Speaking of which, does Loeb's "The Long Halloween" and its sequels tie into Miller's Batman continuity, or are they completely separate?
...I liked Strikes Again better than returns. :cry:

oh god help me! :cry:
 
DIrishB said:
Speaking of which, does Loeb's "The Long Halloween" and its sequels tie into Miller's Batman continuity, or are they completely separate?

hm.... Alright.

Miller has his own Batman continuity, of which All-Star Batman and Robin, Dark Knight Returns, and Dark Knight Strikes Again are all a part of.

Batman: Year One takes place in standard DCU continuity, and Loeb/Sale's work is a direct sequel, roughly slotting into place as "Year Two" in continuity.
 
Baxter said:
...I liked Strikes Again better than returns. :cry:

oh god help me! :cry:

Nothing wrong with that...I also think Strikes Again was underrated.

So...does Loeb's "The Long Halloween" tie into Miller's Batman continuity (Batman: Year One; Holy Terror, Batmanl All-Star Batman and Robin; The Dark Knight Returns; The Dark Knight Strikes Again)...anyone? I only ask because I've read totally different answers around the net, and wanted to know from a more reliable source (in a word, a fellow UC member).

EDIT:
Zombipanda said:
hm.... Alright.

Miller has his own Batman continuity, of which All-Star Batman and Robin, Dark Knight Returns, and Dark Knight Strikes Again are all a part of.

Right.

Batman: Year One takes place in standard DCU continuity, and Loeb/Sale's work is a direct sequel, roughly slotting into place as "Year Two" in continuity.

Ah, ok. I was under the impression Year One was a part of the Dark Knight Returns/AS Batman and Robin continuity as well...thanks.
 
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Edit: Too quick on the trigger. They don't call me Zombi The Kid for nothing.
 
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DIrishB said:
Nothing wrong with that...I also think Strikes Again was underrated.

So...does Loeb's "The Long Halloween" tie into Miller's Batman continuity (Batman: Year One; Holy Terror, Batmanl All-Star Batman and Robin; The Dark Knight Returns; The Dark Knight Strikes Again)...anyone? I only ask because I've read totally different answers around the net, and wanted to know from a more reliable source (in a word, a fellow UC member).
Well, it and Dark Victory were both written as a sequal to Year One (from the introduction to Long halloween. It was proposed for Loeb to "play in the sndbox" of Year ones crime families), but I don't know if they follow in with the other Miller Batman stories, if he conciders them, or if they're glorified fanfic with pretty art (as All Star Batman and Robin is making it look, assuming that it is in the miller-bat-verse too)

lotsa ifs in there, best i can do.
 
Year One is the start for both our current continuity (Followed by Batman: The Man Who Laughs, Batman: Year Two, Long Halloween, Dark Victory, other Bat-family: Year One titles), and the DC Millerverse (ASB&RtBW, Dark Knight Returns, Dark Knight Strikes again).

Its the similar launching point for both...

But as far as DKSA goes, I must say that the first two sections I was in love with, but the last section felt rushed... I think that had he wanted, that section could litereally have been as long as the original DKR, but as it was, It simply didn't satisfy me as an ending in the way DKR's ending does.
 
ProjectX2 said:
Grant Morrison must be the funnest person to interview.
If you could understand a word he's saying. :D

Seriously though, you should check out his website. He has a collection of columns from a few years ago. Some of them are just incomprehensibly strange, but there are some great ones, like transcribed phone conversations between him and Millar and his thoughts on what the U.S. should do about terrorism a week after 9/11 (Of course, the government has done the exact opposite of everything he suggested). His best idea: After Osam Bin Laden is finally captured, force him to spend a few weeks at the Playboy Mansion. At first, he'll be resistant to the call of beautiful babes and beautiful booze, but he'll soon succumb. Release the photos of him drinking martinis in the Grotto with a group of PlayMates and the whole Al Queda operation crumbles.
 

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